Get rid of Caps Lock on OS X

Caps Lock is cruise control for cool.

No, not really. It's a really annoying key because it's big, right next to a vowel, and means I accidentally type in caps on occassion. Why is it there?

A second problem I have with the Mac keyboard is the location of the control key. For most things on the Mac I don't need it, but I use Gimp for photo editing and that uses X11 and the Linux/Windows key mappings. I need a control key, but it's sat right in the corner near Fn and Option and it's hard to reach, even with my pinky finger.

So here I will demonstrate how I fixed both problems in one go. It's ridiculously easy (easier than Windows and Linux) as it's a standard option. Open up System Preferences, go to Keyboard and click Modifier Keys ...

I just set the Caps Lock key to be a second Control key. Now I can press ctrl-X, ctrl-S, ctrl-E and all the other most common Gimp shortcuts without having to contort my little finger under my hand while trying to miss the Option key. Perfect.

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Lazy Robot

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